With its buttery flavor and crumbly texture Scottish Tablet might be a bit confusing to those who’ve never sampled this old fashioned treat before. It’s something in between penuche fudge and toffee in flavor and color, but the texture is perfectly unique. It’s a true classic in Scotland, served at weddings, holidays, and family events. But, it can be a bit tricky to make. Follow our tips and you’ll end up with a delicious batch of this incredible candy for you and yours.
The Recipe Can Vary
I read through a lot of tablet recipes before settling on a method and chose the ingredients to work with. Since I’m not from Scotland I didn’t grow up watching relatives make this candy. But, I found something in common with almost every recipe I read: everything in my kitchen happened a lot faster than what the recipes suggested. I’m not sure if it’s the American equipment or just a difference of technique but it seems to me like the candy mixture boiled and set much faster than the suggested times.
One factor in this may well be the humidity. The amount of moisture in the air and in your sugar can affect any type of candy making. So with that in mind just know that the time for this treat to boil, mix, and set can vary. What you want to do is keep an eye on the texture and color of the mixture, as well as the temperature.
I got a candy thermometer for this recipe, but found it was too slow and that it was hard to both stir and take the temperature at the same time. Instead, I found the old fashioned method of dropping some of the mixture into a glass of cool water, waiting about 20 seconds, then fishing it out to see if it makes a soft ball to be the most accurate and easiest method for testing the temperature. If you want to use a thermometer I give the temperature range in the recipe directions. As it cooks you’ll see the candy turn from pale to a rich caramel color. As long as it’s uniform in color you’re good to go.
Some Important things About This Recipe
If the mixture has lots of brown specks the bottom is burning either due to too high of temp or from not stirring. Turn the burner down and stir constantly. I set the burner on my electric stove to 5.5/10 initially then turned it down to 4.5-5 after it started bubbling.
Do not stop stirring after you add the sweetened condensed milk. This is really important.
Do not overmix the candy once you’ve taken it off the heat. As soon as your beater or spoon leaves a trail in the mixture it’s time to pour it into the cooling pan.
The pan size determines the thickness of your tablet squares so pick a smaller pan for thicker squares or a larger pan for thinner ones.
Grease and line your cooling pan. The butter helps the parchment paper stay in place so that you don’t have any movement while you’re pouring the hot candy mixture in. The parchment paper ensures you can remove the candy once it has set.
This treat is free from gluten, wheat, nuts, and eggs.
You can add a little vanilla extract or even a spoonful of whiskey to flavor the tablet if you desire.
One taste and you will understand why this Scottish Tablet is considered an essential dessert for parties in Scotland.
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